U.S. West Coast refiners purchase Oman crude, first time in 3 years

By Liz Hampton

HOUSTON, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. West Coast refiners haveimported several cargoes of crude from Oman in recent weeks,marking the first arrivals of oil from the Arab country to theUnited States in nearly three years.

The imports of the medium sour crude blend started enteringthe United States in April, shortly after the price of crudefrom Oman became more competitive against other grades thattypically feed West Coast refineries.

Roughly 2 million barrels of Omani crude were unloaded inApril and May each, and in June nearly 1 million barrels haveunloaded, mostly at Long Beach, California, according to ReutersTrade Flows data and sources.

Prior to this, the United States had not imported crude fromOman in nearly three years, according to the U.S. EnergyInformation Administration, as pricing spreads between MiddleEastern crude and other global benchmarks did not make suchimports economically viable.

The first cargo arrived in early April on a Very Large CrudeCarrier (VLCC) co-loaded with Kuwaiti crude, according to asource with access to bill of lading data, which details ashipper's cargo. Another VLCC discharged nearly 2 millionbarrels in May, and the tanker C. Freedom discharged roughly870,000 in early June, according to trading sources and ReutersTrade Flows data.

Smaller parcels of Omani crude also discharged in Benicia,California, in April and May, the flows data shows.

The crude was transported from large ships in parcels torefiners including Valero Energy, Shell and BP, according to the flows data.

Tesoro Corp was also involved with the deals,sources said, but the company declined to comment.

Sources familiar with the matter said the cargoes werebooked earlier this year when the arbitrage opened. From Januaryto late March 2016, the Brent-Dubai Exchange of Futures Swap(EFS) , which is among the indicators traders eye todetmerine arbitrage windows in and out of Asia, traded above$2.70 a barrel, its widest spread since July 2014.

The wider spread makes grades from the Middle East moreattractive than those priced on Brent.

It was not yet clear whether additional cargoes would bebooked for this year, but one trading source noted that AlaskanNorth Slope (ANS) crude, which is almost exclusively fed to WestCoast refiners, has been pressured lower to compete with globalimports, such as shipments from Oman.

This week, August ANS differentials fell to a$2.60 a barrel discount to CMA WTI, versus a 50 cent premium inApril. (Reporting by Liz Hampton, additional reporting by Florence Tanin Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)